How smarter intent signals help ecommerce brands fight returns fraud and improve customer experience
In ecommerce, fraud prevention has traditionally focused on stopping bad actors. But what if your best growth lever isn’t just blocking fraud — it’s better understanding customer intent?
For modern brands, especially in apparel and lifestyle, returns abuse and refund manipulation can quietly erode profits while frustrating genuine shoppers. The key to solving it isn’t adding friction or tightening policies; it’s learning to separate legitimate customers from opportunistic ones based on behavior, not blanket rules.
Why Returns Abuse Is So Hard to Detect
Unlike classic payment fraud, returns abuse lives in the gray area — customers who technically follow your policy but exploit it repeatedly. Examples include:
- Claiming “item not received” after successful delivery
- Wearing items once before returning (“wardrobing”)
- Manipulating tracking or return labels to trigger refunds
- Abusing goodwill or loyalty refunds
Because these behaviors mimic legitimate issues, many merchants respond reactively—tightening policies, adding manual reviews, or requiring more customer verification. But these tactics often hurt the honest majority and create checkout friction that damages lifetime value.
The smarter approach starts with intent: identifying patterns that reveal who your real customers are and how they behave.
The Role of Intent in Modern Fraud Prevention
Every transaction carries a trail of intent signals — purchase frequency, device reputation, delivery consistency, and even post-purchase engagement. When analyzed together, these signals help determine whether someone is trustworthy without making the experience harder for everyone else.
By combining real-time transaction data with behavioral analytics, ecommerce teams can:
- Approve more legitimate orders instantly
- Flag customers showing repeated risky patterns
- Automate return decisions without blanket restrictions
- Create dynamic trust profiles that evolve with each interaction
This balance of trust + verification allows brands to protect revenue and maintain a smooth customer experience.
Ecommerce Example: Monday Swimwear’s Shift Toward Intent-Based Prevention
Luxury swim and lifestyle brand Monday Swimwear found themselves caught in the same cycle many DTC teams face — manual chargeback reviews, rising returns abuse, and time lost verifying every suspicious claim.
According to Ahna Tillmanns, Director of Compliance, the turning point came when they stopped focusing solely on blocking fraud and started focusing on understanding intent.
“We used to spend hours trying to figure out who was lying about a missing order,” Ahna says. “Now, the system handles it automatically so we can focus on real customers who love our brand.”
By adopting intent-driven fraud prevention tools, Monday Swimwear:
- Increased revenue by 3.6% through smarter approvals
- Cut chargebacks by 92%
- Reclaimed 224+ hours annually once spent on manual casework
This shift didn’t just protect margins — it improved customer experience by approving more good orders faster and eliminating unnecessary verification steps for trusted buyers.
How to Build an Intent-Focused Returns Strategy
Here’s how ecommerce teams can operationalize intent-based fraud prevention today.
Step 1: Map the Customer Journey for Risk Points
Identify where returns abuse or false claims occur most often — post-purchase communications, refund requests, or return label creation.
Step 2: Collect and Centralize Intent Data
Use integrated fraud tools or analytics platforms to gather data across channels — payment history, device fingerprints, and customer service interactions.
Step 3: Define “Good Customer” Behavior
Collaborate with CX and ops teams to document what trustworthy engagement looks like: on-time deliveries, consistent addresses, repeat purchasing patterns, or low-risk communication signals.
Step 4: Automate Verification
Deploy systems that automatically approve low-risk behavior and escalate edge cases for manual review. The goal is to protect time and maintain speed, not just add more filters.
Step 5: Measure and Iterate
Track metrics like chargeback reduction, approval rate, and customer satisfaction scores after implementing changes. Continuous monitoring helps balance protection with experience.
The Payoff: Protecting Good Customers, Not Just Stopping Bad Ones
Fraud prevention isn’t only about stopping losses — it’s about creating confidence in every transaction.
When teams understand intent, they can say “yes” more often, keep operations efficient, and preserve the trust that fuels customer loyalty.
As Ahna puts it:
“It’s completely revolutionized how we spend our time. We’re no longer playing detective — we’re back to focusing on our customers.”
By focusing on customer intent, ecommerce brands can turn fraud prevention into a growth strategy — one that protects revenue, enhances experience, and keeps their teams focused on what matters most: serving good customers.
Key Takeaways
- Returns abuse isn’t just a cost issue — it’s a customer experience issue.
- Intent signals let you protect revenue without adding friction.
- Automation plus human insight delivers the best balance.
- Focusing on good customers first drives long-term loyalty and trust.
